The Black Lady
by iceduchess
Summary: The difference between light and dark is not always so obvious. The light cannot always show the way forwards. This time the sinner must be the saviour, if she can be persuaded.
1. Prologue

This is my first fanfiction so please be kind and bear with me. The white Marsh is what Gollum called the dead marsh in the second or third film and the story is set roughly 10 years after the return of the king. The only thing different from the story is that the elves never departed for the Grey Havens.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the black lady and the kingdom of The White Marsh.

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**Prologue - Edited**

Pippin sat in his room in Rivendell smoking his pipe. He was, truth to be told, rather puzzled for it seemed to him rather odd that he had been called to a secret conference when the War of the Ring was well and truly over. He knew that the Aragorn was still putting down small rebellions of corsairs and orcs but that was trivial compared to what they had been through.

He found that his head hurt from thinking too much, but fortunately he was spared from further pain by the arrival of Legolas.

"Lord Elrond is waiting for us by the stone table, Pippin. Hurry up!"

He turned to leave the room.

"Wait! Legolas! You know what's going on don't you?"

Judging from the troubled look on Legolas's fair face he knew exactly what was going on but he did not answer Pippin and instead carried on down the passageway.

At the stone table sat most of the former fellowship of the ring. Frodo had been too ill to come and Sam too busy with his numerous amounts of children so instead there was Eomer, and Faramir, whom Pippin was very pleased to see as it had been a long time since their last meeting. Arwen sat to the left of Elrond, with a troubled look on her face, that mirrored her Father's expression.

Elrond nodded to Aragorn and Aragorn stood. Addressing them all he said,

"My friends. You have been brought here today because war is once more brewing. Sauron has revived and although the ring no longer exists he still poses a large threat to the freedom of middle earth. Inside Mordor he has re-bred his army of orcs to ten times the number they were before. We could perhaps repel his armies if it were not for the fact that this time we have no ring to destroy Sauron with. We will have to meet him head on."

A dead silence followed, before suddenly the whispers broke out like wild fire. Voices of outrage were everywhere.

"We are being told this now? It sounds like you have known for a long time."

Aragorn inclined his head towards the speaker. "We had our suspicions. But that was all they were, and we decided that it would be best to make sure before causing alarm."

At this point Gandalf rose from his seat and carried on from Aragorn, cutting off further protests.

"It will take deep magic to defeat Sauron's mind." He turned towards Elrond and inclined his head, "You know what I think."

"I will not call on her to win this battle! She is a traitor! A murderer! She's not even on our side!"

"She is our only hope"

Pippin and Merry exchanged confused glances.

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Thanks for reading. Please review. No flames but constructive criticism welcome. I will get better I promise but this part was needed.

Iceduchess


	2. Galadriel

Disclaimer: I own nothing except The Black Lady and The White Marsh

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**Chapter 1**

Merry sank to the ground, thoroughly soaked. They had been travelling east for three in the cold rain. It was night-time and the sky was coated in thick black clouds and they occasional bolt of lightening lit everything up to reveal in the far distance a wood of what looked like golden brown trees. Then the light would be gone and all Merry could see was a murky black shadow to the east.

"On your feet Merry. Its not far to go now. Can you see the woods of Lothlorien? There they are, to the east of us." It was Gandalf, towering over Merry looking out of place in his bright, white robes.

Merry hauled himself to his feet and answered, "It looks so different at night. Sort of sinister and dangerous."

"And don't you ever forget it Master Meriadoc. Elves are generally known as kindly folk and people forget that they are also powerful. Not all elves use their power for good." Gandalf smiled at Merry suddenly, a bright, brilliant smile and strode off to talk to Aragorn.

Merry turned to Pippin and frowned. Pippin shrugged heavily.

"I do wish they'd just tell us what's going on. It's all getting very annoying what with all the mysterious faces round here."

Don't worry Merry. I daresay we'll find out what's going on once we reach the Golden Wood."

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On entering Lothlorien they were escorted to a large platform where they were told that the Lady Galadriel had been expecting them.

They waited for what seemed like ages until the Lady of Light arrived. Unlike the first time Merry had met her she entered alone without her husband Celeborn at her side.

"Welcome my friends, to Lothlorien. You have travelled far and are weary I can see but you will not be shown to your chambers quite yet. There is a matter of urgency we must address."

Merry shifted uncomfortably. He dreaded the moment when Galadriel would turn her sea blue eyes to him so instead he stared hard at the floor. It seemed that he was finally about to find out what was going on.

"You intend to seek out the Lady of the White Marsh. I can help you there. But first I must stress that by doing this you are putting your lives on the line. She does not willingly let strangers enter her domain."

For some reason Merry noticed her eyes lingered on Legolas, as though waiting for his reaction. He stood perfectly still no trace of emotion visible on his face. He seemed tense and it was apparent to Merry that he would rather not be there.

"We know the risks my Lady. We are willing to take a chance. But you are the only one who knows the whereabouts of the Black Lady's kingdom and we need you to lead us there." Gandalf spoke with firm resolve.

"Very well. Tomorrow at first light you and your companions shall be blindfolded and we will take you to the White Marsh. The Black Lady would kill you for certain if she thought you knew how to find her kingdom."

"You may retire now. Gwalaith! Show our guests to they're chambers."


	3. Emelia, Daughter of Elrond

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and The Black lady

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It was still early dawn when the elves of Lothlorien woke the travellers to begin their journey to the White Marsh.

The weather was dismal once more and they were well and truly soaked. Only Galadriel seemed to be as bright as ever though her golden hair was plastered to her back. However, this journey was more dignified than their previous one from Rivendell as they rode on horseback. By mid-morning they had reached the Brown Lands just south of Mirkwood. Pippin was surprised that it was taking them so little time. It was as though some elvish magic had given them speed. The amused glint in Galadriel's eyes told him she knew exactly what he was thinking and that he wasn't far wrong.

The talk turned to the Black Lady and Pippin was overcome by curiosity once more.

"Who is she? I know you've told us that she is the Lady of the White Marsh but that means little to me. I think Merry and I have a right to know. After all by the sounds of it she is very dangerous and its only right that we know what we are getting ourselves into."

For a moment Pippin thought Gandalf might be angry at his sudden outburst but when he looked up at him he simply started to laugh as though Pippin had said something very funny.

"Very well master hobbits. You shall be told the story. However I think Legolas would do it more justice than myself."

Legolas looked up from staring at the ground and looked at Merry and Pippin with an unreadable expression upon his face. He glanced at Gandalf.

"Where do I start?"

"I generally find that the beginning is a good place for such stories don't you thinks?"

Legolas sighed slightly. "Very well. In the year 122 of the third age of Middle Earth there was an elf child born to Elrond and Celebrian. She was named Emelia which means Dark as the night in the old tongue."

"And she's… the Black Lady?"

"Yes. Emelia is Elrond's eldest child. But she was banished from Rivendell when she was not yet 100 years old."

"What did she do?"

"She murdered a noble elf lord. For any lesser elf the punishment would have been death. But as it was Lord Elrond could not bring himself to kill his own daughter and so he banished her from the kingdom of Rivendell under pain of death."

"Why did she kill him?"

"She would never say. She just kept saying that she did it, that he deserved to die. She said she didn't regret it. That was the most horrible thing. She wasn't sorry. She didn't show the slightest hint of remorse and that broke Lord Elrond's heart for his daughter to be a cold blooded killer. Arwen took it the worst I think. They were close. Emelia would do anything in her power to protect Arwen and when Emelia…"

Gandalf picked up after Legolas trailed off.

"Emelia was the Morningstar of her people. The dawn of a winter's morning. Cool and refreshing. She still is a winter's morning in some ways. Emelia is bitter and twisted. Evil most would say, though in a different way to Sauron. She no longer cares for the world of men and has stayed in hiding since the last battle."

"Since the last battle? Did she fight then?"

"Yes she did. Or to be more precise she sent a small number of her army to fight for him. Emelia herself would not come into the battle much to Sauron's anger."

Didn't he make her though? If he wanted her to fight she didn't really have much choice. After all he is so powerful and there is only one of her."

"Have you not been listening at all these past few days Master Took? Sauron would never be as foolish as to take Emelia as his enemy. She is nearly as powerful as him. She is an elf-witch like the Lady Galadriel only of far greater power. If Emelia had fought in the last war for Sauron we would have almost certainly been destroyed. But as it is she cares too little to bother herself with the trivialities of men as she sees them to be. Emelia's mind dwells in a world of darkness where few can reach her."

Galadriel had appeared at Pippin's aide. Her face was as bright as ever but there was a tint of sadness in her voice when she spoke.

"She was always the dark one of the family. Arwen seemed to outshine her in everything. That is until I discovered her… talents. But Emelia never begrudged Arwen. She would do anything for her. They were so much more than sisters, Emelia was fiercely protective of Arwen and would only really show her face around Rivendell when Arwen wanted her to. In general she preferred to stay away from others company and so the people loved Arwen more. When they were younger it was different. She was as graceful and elegant as Arwen yet colder and more distant. She never took to strangers the Arwen did."

"So was she always evil?"

"Are you listening to me at all? No she was not always evil."

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Underlined is Galadriel the other is Emelia this conversation is in their minds.

_Emelia._

_Emelia!_

_Yes?_

_We're nearly there._

_Late._

_They arrived later than I expected._

_And I suppose we can have my dear father to thank for that._

_Well?_

_I'll make sure there are scouts waiting for you when you arrive._

_You do know that's he's here?_

_Yes._


	4. The Dark and the Treacherous

**It has taken me a while to gat this chapter done because I have so much school work at the moment but I'm getting less again now and the holidays are coming up so the next chapter shouldn't take quite as long.**

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**The dark and the traitorous**

The mist rising from the marsh before the travellers was pearly white, and all that could be seen through its swirling depths were bright lights that's seemed to dance to some unwritten melody.

"What do we do now?" Faramir asked, "Do we wait for it to clear?"

Gandalf looked at him long and hard before answering.

"The mist will never clear, Faramir, Prince of Ithilien, because it is not really there. It is an illusion, created by the Lady of the White Marsh. If it does not make you turn back then you are drawn to the lights, in the hope of finding a way through the mist. A cruel device indeed, for once you have looked at the lights you will wish to look at them forever."

"What happens then?" asked Pippin.

Galadriel spoke instead of Gandalf.

"They lure you to the water and you are lost to this Earth."

Any further questions were dismissed by the arrival of two dark figures, emerging from the mist. They bowed to Galadriel only, nodded curtly to Legolas and Gandalf, and ignoring the rest of the party.

"Why do they ignore Aragorn? Don't they know who he is?" Merry whispered to Pippin, his face crumpled in confusion.

Aragorn overheard them. He gave a grim smile.

"They don't really care."

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**Later**

Galadriel was talking to the strangers in a language that Merry and Pippin did not understand. It could not be elvish as they had taken extreme pains to learn the language of the elves after the last war.

"What are they saying, Aragorn?"

"I do not know. There are parts I can make out to be elvish but even they are mutilated."

Legolas answered, "It is ancient elvish. The language that all forms of speech today are derived from. Emelia was the only elf in Rivendell to speak it fluently, although I believe Lord Elrond can speak it partly. She had to go to Lothlorien to learn it from Galadriel. It is spoken as the main language in the White Marsh now. Most of the elves there are originally from Lothlorien where it is still taught although they had little use for it until Emelia was exiled."

Galadriel turned to them. "You must all be blindfolded now. Lady Emelia's men will lead you safely to the entrance.

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Cool air hit Merry's face, refreshing, as his blindfold was pulled away roughly. His eyes widened as they took in his surroundings. They were in a large cave, which sloped ceilings were ornate with strange symbols and writing. It was dark, yet everything was visible and the walls seemed to glow with some un-natural light. The air itself seemed alive with magic. It was too fresh for underground and that was made the place undoubtedly elvish.

"This way."

They were lead down a series of passages with no light at all, and all but the elves stumbled in the darkness, falling more than once.

Suddenly they opened out into a large courtyard. Looking up, Merry saw a night sky filled with stars.

"Another illusion," Gandalf murmured, gazing up with an expression of intrigue upon his face, "quite fascinating really."

A young elf appeared silently at their sides. He had a slightly nervous expression that did not sit well on his elven features.

"I am afraid you shall have to wait to meet her ladyship. She is in the weaponry and she tends to _accidentally _hit those who interrupt her during her training."

Gandalf raised a bushy eyebrow. "Then we shall save you the trouble and interrupt her ourselves. Do you have any objections to that?"

"No, no of course not. It is just through that door." He pointed to an iron studded door across the courtyard.

They headed towards the door, Aragorn leading the way. As they reached it Gandalf murmured something in his ear and Aragorn nodded standing aside for Gandalf to enter first.

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Inside the room was by far the brightest place Merry had seen yet. In the middle of it there was a tall figure cloaked in black, a hood shadowing its face.

"Lady Emelia?"

The figure turned towards them and spoke in a decidedly feminine tone. "I've been expecting you."

Her voice was light, like a flute, but it was cold and blank, devoid of any emotion.

She turned back to the opposite wall and hurled a blade at the target, its tip hitting the middle with deadly precision.

Legolas smirked slightly. "I must admit, Emelia, I'm disappointed. After all these years of archery, sword fighting and other powerful weaponry, you still choose to throw kitchen knives at your enemies."

A blade cut through the air where Legolas's hand had been not seconds before.

"Oh, these are most definitely not kitchen knives."

"May I see?"

She crossed the room swiftly, footsteps echoing in their ears. She extended her arm towards him, blade poised in one pale hand.

It was not a cruel hand, Merry decided. Slender, elegant fingers that all elves inherited. However like everything else about her they held a veiled threat. Dangerous, powerful, cold. So cold.

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**There! It took me a long time but I finally finished! Please review! **

**Iceduchess**

**This chapter is now editied. I'm going throught them all, correcting them and changing some of the sentence structures. Nothing big, so if you don't re-read it you really won't miss anything but I don't like to have stories where I give off the impression that I don't understand grammar or spelling.**


	5. Pale Darkness

**What can I say? I'm just a very slow writer. However, I should start to speed up now that my exams are over, so the next chapter should up within a month or so.**

**Once again, please point out any grammar or spelling mistakes I have made and will try to correct them. Read and Review!**

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**Pale Darkness**

Legolas took the knife from Emelia's hand, flinching slightly as his warm fingertips brushed her icy ones. The life of the eldar had all but deserted Emelia, only some forgiving immortality preserving her darkened soul.

His eyes rose to her face; a slither of light visible across her eyes. They were blue-grey, and as harsh and terrible as the sea their colour so closely resembled.

There was nothing there anymore, he determined. An empty shell; a mere shadow of a favourite childhood friend. Her eyes narrowed momentarily as she watched him, knowing that he was trying to read her. She smirked slightly, before deciding to make it easier for him, raising her slender hands and pushing back the hood of her cloak.

Pippin gaped as hood fell backwards, allowing pale golden hair to spill down her back. Her eyes were a bluish-grey and shaped like perfect almonds, framed by long, fair eyelashes and delicate, arching eyebrows. Her face was oval-shaped, with high cheekbones and pale, pink lips that were entirely too soft and sweet looking to be ignored.

Emelia's entire appearance contradicted her character, but, Pippin reminded himself appearances were often deceiving and in a world of deceit nothing was what it seemed.

What struck him most, however, was that although Emelia had the same defining features as her Grandmother, he was not reminded of the Lady Galadriel when he looked at her, but of Eowyn, White Lady of Rohan and Princess of Ithilien. Their proud faces and veiled strength were mirror images.

They were one of a kind, he realised; as opposite and parallel as that implied. Black and White, like the chequered surface of a chess board, the same but different. Perhaps they had taken different paths and chosen different lives but Emelia and Eowyn had been born equal. Fierce, royal and fearless.

Legolas's eyes were frozen upon her face and Pippin remembered his earlier discomfort at the subject of Emelia. As the children of two important and powerful elves, Emelia and Legolas must have met before her exile.

"I believe you came here for a reason?" She already knew what they wanted, that much was clear, but she didn't seem remotely inclined to help them out. Her amusement was plain in the vague curve to her mouth and her eyes were glittering with sadistic humour.

They were dead eyes, Pippin had thought at first. Now he could see more, he realised there was only laughter and no happiness in them. They had an empty void where other elves held a glowing vitality.

Their desperation did not please Emelia as Pippin had expected. Their presence here was about as significant to her as the falling of autumn leaves for she was wrapped in a shroud of black and no-one could seem to penetrate it. Instead of brightening the room the way Galadriel did, Emelia seemed to darken it, filling every corner with a forbidding shadow.

Not all elves are good. That was what Gandalf had said, and Pippin finally understood what he had meant.

"You know why we are here." Aragorn evidently did not feel inclined to play her little game of cat and mouse.

"Yes… but I want to hear you beg." Her voice was as light and musical as ever but a dangerous lilt told Pippin she expected her own way.

Emelia did not like Aragorn; that much was plainly shown in the distaste written across her face. Galadriel had previously mentioned a bond between Emelia and Arwen, stronger than that of mere sisters, and she had said that Emelia was protective of Arwen. Perhaps she blamed Aragorn for Arwen's choice to live life as a mortal.

Pippin could not imagine the Lady of the White Marsh dying for love, or even being willing to.

_You should not judge on first impressions Master Took. Has life not taught you that?_

Emelia's laughing voice cut straight through Pippin's thoughts and he remembered instantly Galadriel's gift.

But the Lord Elrond spoke through his mind to Galadriel sometimes, Pippin thought. Did he never contact his eldest daughter?

A new light stole into Emelia's eyes and Pippin knew she had heard his thoughts. There was a pang of sadness on her face, a moment's hesitation, gone almost before it arrived.

"Well? Are you going to ask what you came here to ask or shall my guards escort you out? I could have them leave you in the middle of the marsh. That would be fun." There was a malicious pleasure in her voice, and a thin smile playing around her lips at the prospect of leaving them in that deadly labyrinth of mist.

It appeared that Gandalf was going to be the only person able to put aside his pride.

"We need your help my Lady. I cannot believe that you are not aware of Sauron's presence. Has he not…" He trailed off, apparently unsure how to ask whose side she was on.

Emelia looked disgusted.

"Has he not called on me, you mean? Sauron knows better than to insinuate that he is my Master. He begged, the last time we spoke. It is an action I am becoming rather accustomed to. You, it seems, are both proud and desperate. Indeed you must be if the Lord Elrond agreed to ask my help."

No-one said a word and Emelia's eyebrows rose as comprehension dawned on her.

"He didn't agree, did he?"

"We had to overrule his opinion. He didn't relent but he allowed us to go on our way."

Emelia laughed.

"Oh how I wish I could have seen his face. It must have been a picture."

Eomer coughed quietly behind Gandalf.

"I really don't see how this is getting us anywhere. Could we address the more important things?"

Emelia's head turned towards him and her brow creased as though she had only just realised he was there.

"I don't know your face.But I can work out who you are. Eomer, King of Rohan, I have heard much of you and of your sister Eowyn. She did not wish to join this quest?"

Eomer looked confused.

"No, she has taken over the ruling of Rohan with Lothiriel whilst we are away. We are to return there once we leave here."

"You will be going to Rohan? Even if I decide to help you?"

Pippin finally understood. Emelia had heard of the slaying of the Witch King of Agmar by the White lady of Rohan and recognised a spirit similar to her own. She wished to go Rohan to meet the only woman on Middle-Earth that wouldn't fear her in the slightest.

"Yes, my Lady."

Emelia paused for several seconds, eyes darting to all the faces that were looking at her, before seeming to come to a decision.

"I will travel to Rohan with you and hear more. Then I will make my decision."

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Thanks to my four :( reviewers MBDTA, Superelfie, ovoriel and WorldTraveler06.

Please review!

Ice Duchess


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